P.J.
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What Indian Parents Want Most For Their Children
Jul 17, 2015
Health, wealth or happiness? When it comes to their children’s future, most parents in India rank professional success more important than a happy life, while in China being healthy is the number one priority and happiness comes out top in the U.S.
Those are some of the findings of a new global survey by HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management, published in a report titled “The Value of Education: Learning for Life” released Wednesday.
Compared with their counterparts in developed countries like the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, Indian parents place greater emphasis on their offspring succeeding at work – something they perhaps believe will lead to future happiness.
Of the Indian parents surveyed, 51% said career success was the most important, followed by 49% who said they want a happy life for their child more than anything else. In the U.S., at least seven in 10 parents said that being happy was most vital. Almost three quarters, or 72%, of parents in China rated leading a healthy lifestyle as an important goal, compared with 33% of Indian parents.
“In developed economies, parents tend to take a more ‘hands off’ approach,” wrote Charlie Nun, who heads wealth management at HSBC. “They are less likely to have a career in mind for their children and are more relaxed about formal education,” Mr. Nun added.
To achieve the sought-after careers, Indian parents are keen their children continue their education in university and to graduate level. Almost 90% of them, the largest proportion globally, said that a master’s degree or higher would help their child achieve their life goals as adults.
In China, the perception that a master’s degree is the minimum level of qualification required is much lower–almost all parents surveyed said an undergraduate degree was a necessary qualification and that it would suffice. In the U.S., about six in 10 parents showed enthusiasm for university education and in the U.K. and Australia, it was even lower.
Parents across the world are keen their children study medicine but in India, most parents want their child to pursue an engineering degree, the survey showed. And they’re willing to pay to provide additional tutoring during at least one stage of their children’s education to achieve it–around seven in 10 Indian parents participating in the survey said they would do so.
Competition to get into India’s most-prestigious engineering colleges is intense. The reputed Indian Institutes of Technology have one of the toughest entrance exams, to prepare for which students drop out of high school and join coaching institutes with dedicated two-year training programs. One town in the western Indian state of Rajasthan runs a gamut of these coaching institutes, the first of its kind charging close to 100,000 rupees ($1,575) for a two-year tutorial program.
American and British parents, on the other hand, are much less likely to pay for extra academic support for their kids–only about 25% said they had done so. And their view that university education is too expensive is also strong–71% of them in each of the two countries said so.
In India and China, parents are more than willing to pay for their children’s education and will even rope in grandparents for additional funds, the survey found. They expect it to take them about seven years to repay loans taken to cover the fees. Though the report adds that parents “tend to underestimate how long it will take their child to repay their university debts.”
Some Indian parents contemplate sending their children to universities abroad because they believe students receive a more rounded education overseas–rather than learning how to cram for exams. Others are deterred from staying in India by inefficiencies. Last year, the University of Delhi delayed admissions as it debated whether undergraduate degrees should be three or four-year programs.
Indian parents are willing to spend more than they would in their own country to give their child the experience of studying abroad. Nearly 60% of those interviewed said they would consider paying at least 50% more to get a degree from a foreign university.
Chinese parents are the most enthusiastic with almost 70% of them saying an education abroad is worth the extra money. Parents in France, Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. would rather their children stay in their own country to study.
According to a recent report from the Institute of International Education, more than 102,000 college and university students in the U.S. in 2014 were Indian, the second-highest number of international students choosing to pursue American degrees after those from China.
The HSBC survey is based on responses received in March and April from 5,500 parents in 16 countries across the world. The parents interviewed have at least one child aged 23 or younger who is either enrolled in a university, or who soon will be.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/07/17/what-indian-parents-want-most-for-their-children/
Jul 17, 2015
Health, wealth or happiness? When it comes to their children’s future, most parents in India rank professional success more important than a happy life, while in China being healthy is the number one priority and happiness comes out top in the U.S.
Those are some of the findings of a new global survey by HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management, published in a report titled “The Value of Education: Learning for Life” released Wednesday.
Compared with their counterparts in developed countries like the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, Indian parents place greater emphasis on their offspring succeeding at work – something they perhaps believe will lead to future happiness.
Of the Indian parents surveyed, 51% said career success was the most important, followed by 49% who said they want a happy life for their child more than anything else. In the U.S., at least seven in 10 parents said that being happy was most vital. Almost three quarters, or 72%, of parents in China rated leading a healthy lifestyle as an important goal, compared with 33% of Indian parents.
“In developed economies, parents tend to take a more ‘hands off’ approach,” wrote Charlie Nun, who heads wealth management at HSBC. “They are less likely to have a career in mind for their children and are more relaxed about formal education,” Mr. Nun added.
To achieve the sought-after careers, Indian parents are keen their children continue their education in university and to graduate level. Almost 90% of them, the largest proportion globally, said that a master’s degree or higher would help their child achieve their life goals as adults.
In China, the perception that a master’s degree is the minimum level of qualification required is much lower–almost all parents surveyed said an undergraduate degree was a necessary qualification and that it would suffice. In the U.S., about six in 10 parents showed enthusiasm for university education and in the U.K. and Australia, it was even lower.
Parents across the world are keen their children study medicine but in India, most parents want their child to pursue an engineering degree, the survey showed. And they’re willing to pay to provide additional tutoring during at least one stage of their children’s education to achieve it–around seven in 10 Indian parents participating in the survey said they would do so.
Competition to get into India’s most-prestigious engineering colleges is intense. The reputed Indian Institutes of Technology have one of the toughest entrance exams, to prepare for which students drop out of high school and join coaching institutes with dedicated two-year training programs. One town in the western Indian state of Rajasthan runs a gamut of these coaching institutes, the first of its kind charging close to 100,000 rupees ($1,575) for a two-year tutorial program.
American and British parents, on the other hand, are much less likely to pay for extra academic support for their kids–only about 25% said they had done so. And their view that university education is too expensive is also strong–71% of them in each of the two countries said so.
In India and China, parents are more than willing to pay for their children’s education and will even rope in grandparents for additional funds, the survey found. They expect it to take them about seven years to repay loans taken to cover the fees. Though the report adds that parents “tend to underestimate how long it will take their child to repay their university debts.”
Some Indian parents contemplate sending their children to universities abroad because they believe students receive a more rounded education overseas–rather than learning how to cram for exams. Others are deterred from staying in India by inefficiencies. Last year, the University of Delhi delayed admissions as it debated whether undergraduate degrees should be three or four-year programs.
Indian parents are willing to spend more than they would in their own country to give their child the experience of studying abroad. Nearly 60% of those interviewed said they would consider paying at least 50% more to get a degree from a foreign university.
Chinese parents are the most enthusiastic with almost 70% of them saying an education abroad is worth the extra money. Parents in France, Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. would rather their children stay in their own country to study.
According to a recent report from the Institute of International Education, more than 102,000 college and university students in the U.S. in 2014 were Indian, the second-highest number of international students choosing to pursue American degrees after those from China.
The HSBC survey is based on responses received in March and April from 5,500 parents in 16 countries across the world. The parents interviewed have at least one child aged 23 or younger who is either enrolled in a university, or who soon will be.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/07/17/what-indian-parents-want-most-for-their-children/
